The Government approves the Preliminary Bill that allows the State to assume 1.508 billion euros of debt of Asturias, which means reducing its liabilities by 36%

02/09/2025

The Government’s measure will allow Asturias to improve its financial position, better access to markets, gain political autonomy and have more resources for health, education or social services

The Council of Ministers approved in the first round the Preliminary Draft Law on Exceptional Financial Sustainability Measures for the Autonomous Communities of the Common System. This regulation will allow the State to assume 83.252 billion euros of debt of the Autonomous Communities, which will benefit all the territories by reducing their liabilities, will free up some 6.7 billion euros of interest payments that can be used to strengthen the Welfare State and will allow them to gain financial autonomy by facilitating their exit to the markets.

In the case of Asturias, the cancellation of the debt by the State reaches 1,508 million euros. This means reducing the debt of Asturias by 36% compared to the closure recorded in 2023.

The objective of this “unprecedented” and “exceptional” measure, as pointed out by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, is to correct the over-indebtedness to which the Autonomous Communities were forced during the financial crisis due to the lack of resources by the Government of Mariano Rajoy. This contrasts with the financial support provided by the progressive government, which means that the Autonomous Communities have received 300 billion euros more resources in seven years of government of Pedro Sánchez compared to the seven years of conservative government.

Montero, during his speech at the press conference of the Council of Ministers, recalled that this rule, which benefits all the Communities, whether or not they have debt to the FLA, is “fully consistent” with the policy of financial support to the Autonomous Communities that the Government has applied since 2018. In this regard, the Minister of Finance recalled other unprecedented measures implemented by the Executive in favor of territorial administrations such as, for example, the 30 billion COVID funds, which the CCAA did not have to repay unlike the FLA loans adopted by the PP Government in the previous crisis and which are the source of the over-indebtedness that the Bill seeks to correct.